Kay has earned $100,000 to $300,000 in each of the last three years. She has 1 million subscribers. That number is merely the gross revenue, however.

She makes 20 videos a week, all of which are filled with ads via Google’s automated YouTube partners program.

Kay likely gets about $7.60 per 1,000 ad views, down from $9.35 in 2012, according to TubeMogul, which buys and sells video ads.

Ads are only run on a minority of videos shown. Roughly, a video creator will earn $2,000 for every million views. “And then YouTube takes 45 percent,” the Times notes. (The IRS will take its cut of the remainder, too.)

Kay spends $500-$700 a week on editing costs.

In other words, Kay is probably getting by on less than 50% of what her videos make in gross revenue. In a $100,000 year, she might be looking at $21,000 annually, after YouTube’s cut, taxes and editing costs, according to our back-of the-envelope math ($100,000 minus $45,000 for YouTube, minus editing costs at $500 per week for 50 weeks, minus 30% for the IRS).

We presume Kay’s real numbers are a little more optimistic than that — otherwise why bother?

We were huge fans of YouTube … but we are not creating content anymore because it’s simply not sustainable. YouTube is an awesome place to build a brand, but it is a horrible place to build a business.

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